Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

news

Graeme Obree Battle Mountain film available to watch for FREE on BBC iPlayer for next four weeks

Documentary by David Street follows Scottish legend’s attempt on human powered vehicle world record

A film charting Scottish legend Graeme Obree’s attempt to set a human-powered vehicle world speed record in the Nevada desert in 2013 is available to watch for free for the next four weeks on the BBC iPlayer.

Battle Mountain – The Graeme Obree Story charts former individual pursuit world champion and UCI Hour Record holder’s journey to his attempt on the record, starting with him putting his self-built recumbent bike, named Beastie, in his kitchen.

The film, which toured UK cinemas last year, often accompanied by a question and answer session with Obree himself, was crowdfunded by David Street, who followed its subject for two years.

When the film was first announced, Street said: “We are with him when the aerodynamic shell so lovingly and painstakingly built doesn’t fit and has to be ditched and again when the second shell proves to fit too well and is a cause of claustrophobia and has to be ripped apart and rebuilt only weeks before the second deadline of September 2013.

>Graeme Obree sets new world speed record for prone cycling

 “We are with him in the hospital just three months before the big day when the surgeons have to gouge a huge abscess out of his leg. Will he be fit enough?

“We are with him as he trains in his own inimitable way through Ayrshire’s country lanes and up Tenerife’s Mount Teide and in his living room.

“And we are with him when he finally makes the start line at Battle Mountain in a machine he’s never ridden before.”

Watch the film on BBC iPlayer.

Battle Mountain poster.jpg

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

Latest Comments